The Williams government came to power on a promise of unprecedented openness, transparency and accountability.

"A comprehensive and effective freedom of information act is the best safeguard against the tendency of governments to descend into official secrecy and elitism," the 2003 Tory blueprint of campaign promises said.

In the past year, however, the province has moved to exempt more and more information from public access.

Legislation passed in 2008 exempted Nalcor, the government-owned energy corporation, from public tendering laws, and broadened the class of "commercially sensitive" records that can be withheld from freedom of information requests.

Bill 63, which passed in December, created a special, wide-ranging class of cabinet records under laws governing the management of provincial information. Cabinet records are exempt from public disclosure.